Virgil van Dijk has told Liverpool that he wants to move to Anfield this summer as the club prepare to open transfer negotiations with Southampton over a deal for the defender that could cost up to £60 million.
Southampton maintain that Van Dijk is not for sale but Liverpool are ready to break their transfer record and make Van Dijk the highest-paid player at the club by offering him a contract of about £200,000 a week, while also paying a world-record fee for a centre back. That record is currently held by David Luiz, whom Chelsea sold to Paris Saint-Germain for £50 million in 2015 before buying him back last season.
Southampton say that Van Dijk had yet to inform them of his intentions. The defender has also been of interest to Chelsea and Manchester City but believes that the next stage of his career should be spent under Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool.
His decision has come as a particular blow to Chelsea, the Premier League champions, who identified Van Dijk for the position on the left of their three-man defence that was occupied by Gary Cahill last season.
Van Dijk, who is recovering from an injury to his left foot that ended his season in January, also sees a similarity between Liverpool and Celtic, his former club, in terms of their stature and fan base. Liverpool qualifying for the Champions League for the first time since 2009 is also important because, without the prospect of competing against Europe’s elite, the Holland defender would not have been interested in joining.
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Van Dijk believes that Liverpool can emerge as genuine title contenders next season and his responsibility will be to improve a defence that conceded 42 goals last season.
There remain significant hurdles for Liverpool to overcome, not least in persuading Southampton to sell a player they signed from Celtic for £13 million in the summer transfer window of 2015.
Van Dijk has five years remaining on his contract, but Liverpool, who have signed Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Nathaniel Clyne, Sadio Mané and Rickie Lambert from St Mary’s since 2014, are determined to get the deal done.
Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, have said that Klopp would be given significant backing in the transfer market this summer and are willing to pay £60million for Van Dijk.
There is little prospect of an auction developing for the defender who, in deciding on Liverpool and choosing Klopp over Antonio Conte and Pep Guardiola, has effectively reduced the chase for his signature to a one-horse race.
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If successful, he will become the centrepiece of the biggest spending spree in Liverpool’s history and will replace Andy Carroll, who was bought for £35 million from Newcastle in 2011, as the club’s costliest player.
Mohamed Salah, of Roma, and Naby Keita, of RB Leipzig, are among Klopp’s other targets.
